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The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
Episode: Season 2, Episode 1: Anthropology 101
Reference: From the moment he crazed his way on-screen, it was clear that Senor Chang was not the most stable of fellows. It's a moment made pop-culturally clear in a rambling, megalomaniacal monologue parodying Gollum's inner, schizophrenic waffling.
Dead Poets Society
Episode: Season 1, Episode 25: Pascal's Triangle Revisited
Reference: Sure, Robin Williams won an Oscar for his turn as a 'Carpe Diem'-ing Professor intent on revolutionising his students' lives.
But in reality, that cheery super-happy and progressive attitude would just be, well, irritating. Which is why Community 's spoof is all the funnier, pairing professional cynic and grump Jeff Winger with Professor Whitman, the world's most annoyingly hippy lecturer.
It's a weirdly familiar comparison that Jeff addresses directly.
Professor Whitman: "I hope you will be seizing the day this summer."
Jeff: "I hope you'll be seizing a more contemporary movie."
Platoon
Episode: Season 2, Episode 24: For a Few Paintballs More
Reference: In an episode bursting with classic war/action movie homages, Troy's Platoon moment is perhaps the most iconic.
Having 'sacrificed' himself for the greater team good, the college's sprinklers erupt, spraying disqualifying paint all over Troy, who falls to his knees, arms stretched to the sky, in a not particularly subtle replica of Willem Dafoe's brutal Platoon death scene.
Die Hard
Episode: Season 1, Episode 23: Modern Warfare
Reference: A grubby Jeff in a white vest would naturally be comparable to Bruce Willis, and his final confrontation with the Dean in Modern Warfare is a reminder of John McClane’s final showdown with Hans Gruber.
How would the Dean cope with falling from a tall building? Potentially not well.
Predator
Episode: Season 1, Episode 23: Modern Warfare
Reference: The majority of Community ’s maddest moments have something to do with Ben Chang, and Modern Warfare includes Chang channeling the Predator as he laughs manicly having set off a (very painty) self destruct.
The Color of Money
Episode: Season 1, Episode 17: Physical Education
Reference: Martin Scorsese’s baize-related classic gets the Community treatment as Jeff and Leonard play pool to the sounds of “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon.
The Breakfast Club
Episode: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot
Reference: From The Breakfast Club ’s enforced study group in detention to Community ’s willing students, the show’s first episode drew a line in the sand for future cinema references.
As the fledgling group bicker among themselves, Abed bursts into Judd Nelson’s famous carton-of-cigarettes-for-Christmas speech.
“Well...” says Jeff, “...that actually was from The Breakfast Club .”
RoboCop rip-offs
Episode: Season 1, Episode 15: Romantic Expressionism
Reference : Kickpuncher, the cyborg whose punches have the power of kicks, is the perfect send-up of '80s / early '90s RoboCop VHS rip-offs as Troy and Abed don the tinfoil costumes to act out scenes from their favourite fictional sci-fi thriller.
Inglourious Basterds
Episode: Season 3, Episode 14: Pillows and Blankets
Reference: When Ben Chang finds himself responsible for Troy’s blanket-fort security, he hires a motley group of teenagers at a bar mitzvah and dubs them his “ Changlourious Basterds.”
The episode’s Ken Burns-style narrator makes reference to Chang’s wordplay: “Like Inglorious Basterds , but with Chang instead of In…I don’t get it either.”
A Fistful of Dollars/For a Few Dollars More/The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Episode: Season 2 Episode 23: A Fistful of Paintballs
References: In an homage that lasts a full episode, the Spaghetti Western references come thick and fast, from the title’s nod to Sergio Leone’s A Fistful Of Dollars to a duel scene reminiscent of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
There’s also the classic Western theme of vengeance, as Pierce vows to exact revenge on the rest of the study group for almost voting him out.
Violent, exciting and full of action, the episode was a huge hit with fans.
